At the eastern end of the platform stood the two three-story chapels, over fifty feet in height, originally dedicated to Huitzilopochtli and Tezcatlipoca. Against this the Indians had massed themselves, fierce in their desperation. The Castilians had taken their stand at the other end. It was an awful situation, dire destruction being inevitable to one side or the other. With nerves and sinews strained to their utmost tension, they stood between attacks regarding each other, regarding every motion, anon picking from the other’s number with javelin, dart, or musket, as they were able. It was with difficulty the Spaniards could stand, and there was no railing round the slippery height; but fortune again assisted by unveiling the sun and sending its blinding rays full in the face of the enemy. Every now and then the soldiers charged in solid phalanx into the centre of the opposite mass, only to be obliged to retire under the pressure of its weight, and to receive the counter-charge, encouraged by wildly gesticulating priests, who flitted to and fro in bloody robes and dishevelled hair. Aware of the inferiority of their weapons, the natives sought rather to seize hold of the Spaniards, singly or in groups, and with the recklessness of doomed men to hurl themselves with their victims from the dizzy height. In one instance Cortés himself was selected for this terrible fate. Inspired to martyrdom and revenge, two young nobles watched their opportunity, and approached him on their knees, as if pleading for mercy. Ere he had time to consider the situation they had seized him in their arms and were struggling to gain the edge. One moment more and he would have been dashed to death, but by putting forth his whole strength, nerved by desperation, he succeeded in freeing himself from their grasp. Ojeda was singled out for a similar attempt, and would have perished had not a Genoese come to his aid.[789]
For three hours the struggle lasted, while one Indian after another was picked off by the bullet and the arrow, or pierced by the pike and sword, or sent headlong over the platform, either to be crushed by the fall or to be transfixed by the Spaniards on the ledges below. As their number diminished, many a one sought the higher martyrdom by leaping from the sacred spot into paradise. Thus melted away that fated band of Aztec warriors. At the portal of Huitzilopochtli’s chapel fell the last defender; and two priests, one of them the high-priest, alone remained to offer themselves as captives. On entering the chapel consecrated to the virgin no traces appeared of the holy emblems, only evidences of idolatrous rites, and upon the altar stains from the blackened hands of the temple attendants.[790] In the adjoining chapel the war-god was found reinstalled in all its glittering hideousness. Some consolation for this sacrilegious intrusion was offered to the victors in despoiling it of the rich ornaments, while the cacao and other provisions stored here by the garrison proved a prize to the half-famished Spaniards. The Tlascaltecs, so long deprived of meat, pounced upon the bodies of the slain heroes to secure them for a feast, which should not only satisfy the cravings of hunger, but infuse their hearts and minds with some of the qualities of the valiant dead.[791] The chapels were then fired. The upper portion of the structure being of wood, the flames rose in columns heavenward, heralding the triumph of the Spaniard, and striking the Indian with awe. It was a great and thrilling feat, this fight upon the temple top; and so the natives regarded it, their heart, and mind, and paintings being all stained sanguine over its remembrance.[792]
FOOTNOTES
[770] Bernal Diaz mentions the death of ten or twelve, but Cortés acknowledges only three score of wounded. On this occasion, apparently, Herrera allows Cortés to gain Tacuba, whither he might have retreated in safety with all his forces and wealth; yet he states that the return fight proved most severe, the fort being regained with difficulty, after the loss of two guns and several soldiers, one taken alive. dec. ii. lib. x. cap. ix. Solis manages to transform the operation into a victory, wherein Cortés stays the slaughter out of mercy. Prescott is quite arbitrary in the use of the chronicles. He combines the incidents of several days into one and transposes them at pleasure, with the sole aim apparently of presenting an exciting description of what the siege might have been. A few facts are elaborated, and the rest sacrificed to style.
[771] Marina asked Montezuma if a new king had been chosen, but he did not think they would elect one while he lived. Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt. iii. 141.
[772] ‘Fue acordado de demandalles pazes para salir de Mexico, ... acordò Cortes, que el gran Monteçuma les hablasse.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 104. ‘Muteczuma ... dijo que le sacasen ... y que él hablaria á los capitanes.’ Cortés, Cartas, 129-30. The latter statement may be Herrera’s authority for saying that Montezuma was the first to propose speaking to the Mexicans. dec. ii. lib. x. cap. x. Observing Cuitlahuatzin’s regal authority over the besieging forces, Montezuma was seized with a fit of jealous alarm for throne and life. ‘Chiamò Cortès, ... pregandolo instantemente di non differir più la sua partenza.’ Clavigero, Storia Mess., iii. 124. This implies that the emperor was not aware of the vain efforts made to open communication with the mainland, or even to approach it. Cortés had to urge him in any case to speak to his subjects, an unwelcome task in view of his declining influence and of the merely partial success of the former appeal.
[773] Among other reasons it was represented that Cortés was not to blame for the late massacre. ‘Que si la indignacion de los mexicanos podia templarse con el castigo de los culpados ... le prometia castigar.’ So says the native version of Tezozomoc, Recop. tradiciones, MS., cap. vi.; Chimalpain, Hist. Conq., 287-8.
[774] He felt no eagerness to plead in behalf of those who had caused all his misfortunes, and he was only too conscious that his pusillanimity must have degraded him in the eyes of his subjects, while the elevation of his brother to the leadership must have diminished the influence which till then may have remained with him. He could hardly avoid a feeling of jealousy at the thought of this elevation; and if he, during an impulse of anger against Cortés, had counselled the proceedings of Cuitlahuatzin, he now felt probably both grieved and terrified at the storm he had raised. He also harbored a wholesome fear of Malinche, and the prospect of his speedy departure helped to stir anew the embers of hope. All might yet be well: the capital might be spared further desolation, and he again resume his former grandeur.
[775] See description of his first meeting with Cortés, Native Races, ii. This appearance of the emperor took place on the 27th of June, as Cortés states, but Bernal Diaz, Herrera, and Ixtlilxochitl place it respectively on the 5th, 6th, and 7th day of the siege.
[776] Herrera, dec. ii. lib. x. cap. x.; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 104. ‘No molestàsen à los estrangeros y fuésen sus amigos, pues su persona corria riesgo.’ Tezozomoc, Recop. tradiciones, MS., cap. vi. Cortés, followed by Gomara, gives him no time to speak ere the people assault.